Rajat Patidar joins Virat Kohli in exclusive group of RCB captains to score over 50 at Chepauk

NEW DELHI: Rajat Patidar has joined Virat Kohli in the exclusive list of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captains to score 50-plus at Chepauk, Chennai. RCB skipper Patidar scored 51 in the clash against Chennai Super Kings on Friday, March 28.

With this half-century, Patidar has joined the elite list alongside Virat Kohli, who achieved the milestone back in 2013. Patidar rose to prominence during the 2022 IPL eliminator with a stunning century against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), becoming the first uncapped player to score a century in an IPL playoff that shot the right-hander into stardom. Despite a series of injuries that kept him out of the 2023 season, Patidar made an impressive comeback in IPL 2024. Following his exceptional performances, he was named the RCB captain ahead of IPL 2025.

After CSK won the toss and opted to field first, Phil Salt put RCB to a fine start, striking Ravichandran Ashwin for two fours and a six in the second over. On the other end, Virat Kohli was trying to connect against pacers and spinners alike but struggled to do so.

A catch from skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad on a Ravichandran Ashwin delivery ended Padikkal’s brief cameo of 27 in 14 balls, with two fours and two sixes. Noor (3/36) was the pick of the bowlers for CSK. Also, Pathirana got two wickets and Ashwin and Khaleel got one wicket each.

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Matheesha Pathirana, Noor Ahmad, Ravichandran Ashwin, Devon Conway, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Sam Curran, Shaik Rashid, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary, Deepak Hooda, Gurjanpreet Singh, Nathan Ellis, Jamie Overton, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishnan Ghosh, Shreyas Gopal, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddarth.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Rajat Patidar (c), Virat Kohli, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Liam Livingstone, Rasikh Salam, Suyash Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Nuwan Thushara, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethel, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chhikara, Lungi Ngidi, Abhinandan Singh, Mohit Rathee.(ANI)